Mayor Mike Wiza sat down with Gazette staff to give his weekly update on all things Stevens Point. Wiza touched on the 2020 capital budget and an update on a possible dog swimming area.

2020 Capital Budget

The 2020 capital budget saw its final public presentation at a finance committee meeting on Oct. 14. Wiza noted the budget hadn’t changed much since it was first presented, though McDill dam could see new additions.

The dam could get new automated flowage gates, costing roughly $40,000. The gates would regulate the water flowage via a computer network. They are currently manually operated.

“Right now, we have to have people go two times a day and manually adjust them to keep the water flow consistent,” Wiza said. “It takes about an hour a day. With these new gates, someone’s time could be used to do other things.”

The dam, located within the Lake District, would only receive the new gates if the district would fund 25 percent of the project.

Wiza noted the city has also allocated $50,000 solely to repairing alleyways in the town.  The changes and overall budget will go in front of the council on Oct. 21 for final considerations.

Dog Swimming Area 

Wiza said that a dog swimming area could come to the north side of Mead Park this spring.

Park commission officials gave initial approval on the project earlier in October.  The area would include a fence and sandy beach. The space would be the only designated off-leash area in the city except for established dog parks.

“If [all] goes well, we will get bids over winter to put up a fence in spring,” Wiza said. “Then come spring, we could see it installed.”

The proposed area would not restrict people from swimming.

The project will go in front of parks commission again this November before consideration from the council. Council officials could approve the plans in November.